I wasn't entirely sure if Karek's roll of 51% means he didn't need to save or meant he needed to save. It turns out not to matter as if he did need to save, he clearly made the save. So he's good either way.

So you have twigged me to clear this up for future reference before it results in an issue:

All percentage rolls in this combat, will follow this complex system:

High = good for Dune Squad

Low = bad for Dune Squad

So in the above example, Karek's 51% is "high" (higher than 50%) which is good, which means he successfully avoided looking directly at the creature's eyes.

Oh, I see I'm adjacent to the thing. Well, wherever you put me is fine.

-

This is Flamethrower being polite. What he is saying is that Karek only has a Speed of 20 feet, so he could not have reached the creature and Bunky's attack, although it was Colossal-sized, does not include reach. (A finer point I missed. That's two errors in the surprise round alone, though both in your favor. I will though be able to fix them both with a little map magic to follow. Though I gotta step out first for a bit,I think.)

"Whaddaya mean we can't kill it?!?! Next thing ya know, yur gonna want it as a pet! Lydia lass is stone; we have ta keep our eyes closed; and now you want us ta konk it on the head real nice like so as not ta kill it! Bah! Thanks for makin' it easier on us, Pate!" He grumbles sarcastically.

-

Oh that's just Phrip - he's a hippy. Pay him no mind. He didn't want to let you kill any Osirion soldiers either and he slew like a zillion of them.

Breach Shattershield aka Javell wrote:

Dolmarthis attack? That is so freaking cool! Rock on, Bunky! Woo-hoo!

-

The PCs obtained pieces of magical jewelry in treasure recovered from the aquatic lair of a beast called Decajaws. Karek's piece is called Dolmarthis. It imparts a special mega-attack for Bunky. It's detailed in his profile.

This raises an interesting question. Whatever happened to Breach's piece of Star Tribe Jewelry? Did he ever get one? If so, it didn't seem to make it on any character sheets - I am going to go check. He might not have received one as he was an NPC at the time and it is possible there wasn't a piece for him.

Anyways, we can sort that later. For now, Breach is up - the only member of the Dune Squad left who gets to go before the beast. (No pressure.)

Checking in late once again, but it doesn't look like my absence has caused any additional chaos. Holy what a mess!

Fort Save vs. 15 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Sooron still stands dumbfounded as his allies petrify around him one by one, and all of the shouting and screaming, and then darkness falls over his pretty head as he's still barely beginning to realize that there's a combat going on.

What would the effects of a Dispel Magic be on this beasty? Any chance of knowledge check to know? If it's a magical creation, would dispelling it dispel it's magical effects as well?

well we have a dim light source now which is why darkvision is canceled out. If you are thinking about getting behind it and striking a torch I guess that is up to Beetle if it would work, my concern would be that the light would work against us. Right now my spell has negated its gaze attack so we are on equal footing!

well we have a dim light source now which is why darkvision is canceled out. If you are thinking about getting behind it and striking a torch I guess that is up to Beetle if it would work, my concern would be that the light would work against us. Right now my spell has negated its gaze attack so we are on equal footing!

-

I am glad you two are sorting this out.

As I currently understand it, Donkor has created a "normal" light source from his phylactery (the strange box on his forehead).

Deeper darkness will lower that light condition two steps, down to dim light and then normal darkness. To negate darkvision you need supernatural darkness.

If you want to achieve the cancellation of darkvision - I think Hal is going for that but Karek is not - I am uncertain - then you want Donkor to cancel his light spell.

Remarkably, light is not a dismissible spell. (I did not know that) So Donkor would need to cover up his phylactery or throw it somewhere, for example, in order to achieve supernatural darkness.

So unless someone can persuade me otherwise, which at the rate I'm going these days shouldn't be too hard, anyone within 20 feet of Donkor can use darkvision which is everyone - possibly even including the opposition.

"Here goes nothing." Breach moves to the area where he last saw the beast and swings in hopes he's managed to guess right.

-

OK! So Breach made his concealment roll - though Karek and Hal have now assisted me to belatedly discover Breach can actually see the creature with his darkvision, but I take it Breach is going to be conservative and close his eyes anyways in order to fully protect himself from a gaze attack.

But regardless his attack roll was unfortunately a miss.

However, from where he is, the creature's last position was adjacent (on the diagonal) so Breach could take the rest of his full attack if he wanted to. Or he could still take a move action. This time, we're out of the surprise round.

One more thing: if he means to follow Moonpate's advice as I took from Breach's earlier post, he will need to take a -4 on his attack roll for making a non-lethal attack. Though that's up to you, of course.

Gandel already established Knowledge (arcana) is the key Knowledge skill here, but dam, that's a really awesome roll with a great total! I'll give it up.

Here it is:

Karek has heard that weasels and ferrets are immune to the gaze of a basilisk.

Now if I were you, I would assume I have just made this up. But not so, it's actually written in the ecology section of the basilisk's bestiary entry. This is one crazy coincidence. Karek just happens to have brought a weasel several hundred miles from another continent and through the elemental plane of water to find a basilisk.

Wow!

I then assumed this was something a game designer threw in to meet his word count, but it turns out it's actually based in myth. According to real-world legends weasels are traditionally used to hunt basilisks. (Though they typically they are torn apart by the beast in the fray). We'll see what we can do to further abide by tradition.

Gandel already established Knowledge (arcana) is the key Knowledge skill here, but dam, that's a really awesome roll with a great total! I'll give it up.

Here it is:

Karek has heard that weasels and ferrets are immune to the gaze of a basilisk.

Now if I were you, I would assume I have just made this up. But not so, it's actually written in the ecology section of the basilisk's bestiary entry. This is one crazy coincidence. Karek just happens to have brought a weasel several hundred miles from another continent and through the elemental plane of water to find a basilisk.

Wow!

I then assumed this was something a game designer threw in to meet his word count, but it turns out it's actually based in myth. According to real-world legends weasels are traditionally used to hunt basilisks. (Though they typically they are torn apart by the beast in the fray). We'll see what we can do to further abide by tradition.

Not that we need any more reasons really but this coincidence is just another reason why this game is so amazing and so much fun to play!

Looks like I spoke too soon. The reason is buried in the description of the spell Darkness, which Deeper Darkness works from. Lower-level magical light sources and nonmagical sources don't raise the light level in an area of Darkness. (The reason it worked in the game I was thinking of was that we had a Heightened light source.) Sorry for the confusion. Looks like we'll have to subdue it. Karek will go for a grapple.

Looks like I spoke too soon. The reason is buried in the description of the spell Darkness, which Deeper Darkness works from. Lower-level magical light sources and nonmagical sources don't raise the light level in an area of Darkness. (The reason it worked in the game I was thinking of was that we had a Heightened light source.) Sorry for the confusion. Looks like we'll have to subdue it. Karek will go for a grapple.

Breach swings his axe into the inky black expanse where he last saw the creature. Following a directive from the party wizard, the dwarf is using the flat of his blade – at least what he thinks is the flat of his bade.

It strikes true!

“Ow!”, cries a voice – it’s Karek. “Hat dwas me!”

Undaunted, Breach tries another direction, rushing forward with the monster skull on his shield, the only part of his shield devoid of spine-like spikes.

Again, he strikes true! (At least he thinks he does.)

For good measure Breast whacks one more time with his axe-flat. There is a bell-like ring as the axe smashes into something metallic.

Breach swings his axe into the inky black expanse where he last saw the creature. Following a directive from the party wizard, the dwarf is using the flat of his blade – at least what he thinks is the flat of his blade.

It strikes true!

“Ow!”, cries a voice – it’s Karek. “Hat dwas me!”

"Sorry."

Pact Stone GM wrote:

Undaunted, Breach tries another direction, rushing forward with the monster skull on his shield, the only part of his shield devoid of spine-like spikes.

Again, he strikes true! (At least he thinks he does.)

Breach raises an eyebrow, waiting for a cry. "Karek?"

Pact Stone GM wrote:

Shrugging, Breach whacks one more time with his axe-flat. There is a bell-like ring as the axe smashes into something metallic.

Finally able to gather his wits in the confusion, Hurgah issues a growling challenge to the basilisk and begins to push his way towards through the beast, navigating his way through live allies and statues as best he can.

He does not make it more than a few steps before his foot slips on the petrified head of Ghukan the Unfairly Conscripted. The half-orc's massive toes lodge themselves in the open mouth of the shattered soldier, frozen forever in the act of shouting useless advice. With a roar, Hurgah crashes to the ground, sending the petrified head flying forward in the process.

Somewhere up ahead in the darkness, the stone head impacts on something solid, and a dwarven voice once again cries "Ow!"

Trembling with pent-up rage, Hurgah laboriously hoist himself back up to a standing position.

Actually, I was under the impression that Karek broke Ghoukan. Reading back, I see that he managed to save him at the last minute. However, I fully stand by my destructive behavior. I highlighted the relevant bit below.

GMPC Karek wrote:

"Bunky's Bunker Rush"

Young Karek follows the advice of the veteran dwarf and clasps his eyes closed as tightly as he can manage, squinting his entire bulbous face until it looks as though it were collapsing in on itself like some kind of giant facial crevasse.

"Kwadever it is, ah ken sill whage it wid me amer!" he exclaims and rushes forward towards Breach. He holds his massive weapon high over his head with one hand while he feels for the hieroglyph-covered wall on his left-hand side.

The first thing he does though is slam straight into Ghoukan. The unbalanced stone statue wavers and then quickly topples over. Just before it hits the ground and smashes into a dozen jagged pieces, Karek catches it with his free hand.

"Swowwy!" he cries, as he lifts it back on its feet and rests it against the wall. (Naturally petrified statues really ought to come with proper bases.) While Karek does so, the excitable Bunky finishes pushing his way out of the dwarf's pack and begins balancing himself on Karek's shoulder.

Karek stops short, about ready to give up adventuring when his single hit die animal friend does more than the entire rest of the Dune Squad with one moment, and doesn't even risk stony death.

He further reconsiders his career path after being smacked twice with an axe (it was the full blade, Breach) and having rocks flung at him from gods know where. Maybe there are some kobolds in here. It seems like something they would do.

Nevertheless, he surges forward, a picture of young strength in its prime. Then, he realizes he doesn't even know where he's going. Story of his life, really.

If the perception check does not find the creature, then Karek will bumble around in the darkness, advancing 10-20 feet, depending on... if he finds a basilisk, I guess. Or leaves the area of supernatural darkness, whichever happens first.

Karek calls for silence. If the rest of the squad could stop assaulting him for just one moment, just maybe he could get a handle on where his quarry has gone to.

There! Through the chaos Karek can hear a feint snorting sound, the sound of over-sized flaring nostrils. It's gotta be either Hurgah or the basilisk. It's at least a 50 percent chance..

Karek dives!

OOC: I can't tell you how many props you get for trying to grapple a creature with 8 legs. That's confidence.

Karek slams into what feels like scales. It's the beast! Those scales are awful slick though - slick with salty blood. The creature must be badly injured. Sensing victory, Karek presses ahead, trying to find a limb to contort to trap or pin the beast.

He finds many. This thing seems to have no end of legs. Karek goes for the entire body and does his best to try to wrap the beast up with a dwarven full-and-two-thirds-nelson. The adrenaline is pumping through his blood. That's when he suddenly realizes the creature is not fighting back. It's stunned or it's possibly been knocked unconscious. It's not dead though, Karek can still hear those nostrils flaring. Feeling around with his big stubby fingers he can feel an egg sized bump on the creature's noggin. Karek considers it's possible Breach finally connected with someone other than him.

Karek can here the excited chittering of Bunky. The weasel is on top of the beast jumping up and down excitedly. No doubt this is a conquest to go down in the weasel hall of fame.

Actually, I was under the impression that Karek broke Ghoukan. Reading back, I see that he managed to save him at the last minute. However, I fully stand by my destructive behavior. I highlighted the relevant bit below.

-

Keep up this kind of callous disregard for your fellow comrades, and I will be forced to slide Hurgah one step closer on the alignment chart to chaotic neu--

Somewhere up ahead in the darkness, the stone head impacts on something solid, and a dwarven voice once again cries "Ow!"

"Sorry." Breach then raises an eyebrow, realizing he hasn't done anything else. Just about to question it, he shrugs and chalks it up to a 'whatever'.

"It's down? Good. Now I can open me eyes." As he does, he realizes he still can't see. "Oh crap. I think I've gone blind." He states as a matter of fact. "I canno' see a thing. Morgrym! Can ya be fixin' me of me blindness?! I know I'm old but I was for seein' just a moment ago!" He complains. "Maybe the monster turns us blind as well as makes us statues," he surmises. "Poor Lydia. I'm so sorry lass. I guess it's just as well I canno' see no more. I canno' bear to see ya all petrified. She was a good lass." He says, sorrow obvious in his voice.

Alright, here is a knowledge check to see how, if possible, to de-petrify my comrades, with dispel magic or otherwise.

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Hmm, that's certainly not going to tell me anything.

Sooron continue to stand in place, to all intents struck motionless and stupid by the rapidity of the events surrounding him. He speaks. "So, uh, we won then? Excellent. Good weasel. Ant-slayer this morning, magical beasty this evening!"

Alright, here is a knowledge check to see how, if possible, to de-petrify my comrades, with dispel magic or otherwise.

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20+5

Hmm, that's certainly not going to tell me anything.

-

He will still know from his own experience with working with the spell that it cannot be used to de-petrify. He has heard of more powerful magics that could do of such a thing, but they are beyond his power.

Which reminds me that Moonpate can finally act and get the results of his Knowledge check.

It was a total of 29 (15 + 14).

That's enough to get a repeat of the info that was imparted to Gandel just moments before he was petrified.

I'll just repeat the spoiler tag here for ease of reference:

Basilisk information:

That creature is a basilisk -- and you're looking at it. That's not good as the basilisk has a deadly gaze attack. They also have a nasty bite, but not one a group with the Dune Squad's credentials would fear. Basilisks are not known to be able to teleport behind adventuring parties, but they are pretty excellent at hiding.

Go ahead and access the bestiary entry if you'd like to learn more. A classic beast, I'd bet you are already well familiar.

Just in case, so you don't miss the more arcane points, buried in the text of the gaze attack is an important change from 3.5 to Pathfinder. There's a built-in cure for the petrified. It's a good thing to know as when I look at the probabilities versus the sheer number of Fortitude saves coming up, it may come in handy.

Gandel will also know, of course, that Basilisks do not have glowing hieroglyphs on their bodies - neither do girallons. As Halstadt is already trying to put his finger on, there's something more going on here.

If Gandel puts the above two paragraphs together, he may anticipate a problem. A basilik's blood could be very valuable, but if this creature is like the girallon, its remains will vanish very quickly after it is killed.

OOC: Phrip, I'm not sure if you have a Pathfinder Bestiary to reference p.29 or not, but if not you can always google it, if you care to, "Pathfinder srd basilisk" ought to do it.

When Hal terminates his spell, the corridor once again lights up from the box on Donkor's forehead (AKA the phylactery headlamp).

You can see Karek grappling with an unconscious 8-legged dinosaur while Bunky bounces on top of them.

Blood from the basilisk is pooling on the flagstones, while glowing hieroglyphs flash across the creature's skin.

Tragically, several of your comrades have taken up new career paths as store mannikins: Xerissa, Gandel and Lydia. And, as Breach has taken note, Ghoukan has opened himself up to a zillion head loss puns. I apologize, I'm just trying to help us all get it out of our system.

"Ah! Well that's better. Thanks, lad." Noticing more of his comrades have been petrified, "By Torag's hammer!" Seeing the one shattered to pieces, "Oh no! Who was that one?!" He points.

"I must study the beast's hieroglyphs more, but in the meantime we must rescue our comrades. Quick, let's get a sack or cloak wrapped around its head and bind its jaws and legs as best as possible. We need to bleed it and keep it alive long enough to get enough blood to thoroughly coat every inch of these statues. That may mean having to heal the beast slightly. It will be tricky but we must prevail while I try figure out how these creatures are conjuring amongst us."

Beetle, let me know if you need me to do another linguistics roll, or if I can use the previous one.

If we just gut it and the blood rushes all over the floor will that give us enough volume to coat all of our comrades?

-

Impossible to estimate. I feel like there's a junior high math problem here. What is the total remaining blood volume of an injured basilisk and is it greater than the total surface area of four humanoid statues?

Beetle, let me know if you need me to do another linguistics roll, or if I can use the previous one.

-

I would love a new one. Assuming he's trying it immediately while his comrades are binding the beast with 8-legs the difficulty will be quite high. Otherwise if he's patient, once the excitements over it should become much easier. But can he wait?